I’ve got loads of AAdvantage miles that I clocked up with AA and BA.

Whenever I’ve used them in the past, the fees/charges applied on top of the miles have been really low (e.g. paid £101 for a return flight to Honolulu with stop offs in both east and west coast).

Been trying to book a couple of trips for summer and xmas and the fees for even a London to New York flight have jumped to almost £450 on top of the miles, so really no point in using the miles at all, other than for upgrades.

Fees on internal flights have stayed low, just seems to be on international parts of flights.

I’ve spoken to AA about it, but customer service just put it down to fees imposed by those airports, not really getting a straight answer as to why there’s such a huge hike and can’t find anything else online.

Any frequent flyers able to shed any light? Don’t want to book anything right now if this is a temporary thing.

You forgot the ‘firstworldproblems’ tag 😉

I know it sounds like a first world problem, but i’ve spent a fortune travelling with AA and BA (even if they were not necessarily the cheapest) because the airmiles have been good. Now I have a load of miles which aren’t worth very much at all.

I’ve taken a screenshot of the booking page, a London to San Diego flight – I paid less than £100 for the same flight at the same time last year. I get pretty much the same charges regardless of dates, class, location, timing etc 🙁

After the pics you posted of your lady on here yesterday, you’ll get no sympathy here 🙂

Haven’t UK taxes on international flights gone up loads anyway – presumably its this?

I didn’t post any pictures, just a link to my blog, trying to give the OP some ideas as to fun outdoors stuff he could do with his mrs! 🙂

Haven’t UK taxes on international flights gone up loads anyway – presumably its this?

That’s what i was thinking originally, but the cost of my paying for a regular flight hasn’t changed that much, certainly not £443!

Dunno about AA, as all mine are direct on BA. Just used miles to upgrade seats for my holiday. Jump from WTP to Club cost about 25k miles and £0 taxes, return (Longish haul, sunny holiday destination)

In my experience, that’s the best way to use your miles – Upgrading a flight you would already have been taking. Another thing you can do is use them to pay for a flight as a part of a BA holiday, but the taxes/fees on that were a fair whack more. The costs you’re looking at there are almost certainly the air transport taxes primarily.

Dunno about AA, as all mine are direct on BA. Just used miles to upgrade seats for my holiday. Jump from WTP to Club cost about 25k miles and £0 taxes, return (Longish haul, sunny holiday destination)

In my experience, that’s the best way to use your miles – Upgrading a flight you would already have been taking. Another thing you can do is use them to pay for a flight as a part of a BA holiday, but the taxes/fees on that were a fair whack more.

I normally just use them for upgrades, but trying to be frugal this year so that I can afford an couple of extra trips I want.

Are all your BA miles on Avios now? I’ve always clocked BA miles on my AAdvantage account

Are all your BA miles on Avios now?

Yep, same thing, just rebranded and harder to use if you collect them through Tesco or similar, IIRC. I also have my work Amex hooked up to my BA Avioses/Avii?( 😉 ) so I get a lot of ’em! Still got a little over quarter of a million of the things sitting there. Must spend them!

*Edit – Just had a little looksee. I could get two return flights to Amsterdam, in Club (natch!) for £68. And 35000 Avii. Tidy. Looks like a late summer weekend in the ‘Dam for me! 🙂

Yep, same thing, just rebranded and harder to use if you collect them through Tesco or similar, IIRC. I also have my work Amex hooked up to my BA Avioses/Avii?( ) so I get a lot of ’em! Still got a little over quarter of a million of the things sitting there. Must spend them!

Yeah, that’s my problem, I’ve spent waaaaayyy more time accruing them than spending them (it’s quite additive!).

Looking at the screenshot you’re flying to tatl in Business, not bad for £443 really (especially as it’s west coast). Bet you couldn’t get to San Diego for that much in economy if you were paying cash for a ticket.
Most of my miles, well Avioseses, are with BA now, and my BMI miles will be soon as well I think. I take the view that rather than a free or low cost flight, I can pay roughly the same amount as an economy ticket, but sit at the pointy end of the plane. (Apart from BA’s Reward flight Saver, which is pretty good value for Europe – from £27 return I think).
If you fly BA/Oneworld a lot, and spend a fair chunk on a credit card, have a look at Amex’s BA pp card, you can get a companion voucher, which whilst you still pay the charges etc for 2 people, means 2 of you can fly for the cost of one lot of Avioseses. (Restricted to BA planes though – but they do fly to San Diego).
I haven’t got time to go looking now, but have you tried searching for trips NOT using BA planes? If I remember correctly, BA put in a fuel surcharge that AA don’t, and looking at the screenshot it’s a BA flight so maybe AA are having to charge you BA’s fuel surcharge? Just a thought like…

Folk that collect Avios miles from work flights (non-self employed) – How do you get your Avios number added when booking to collect points if you don’t book them yourself?

Looking at the screenshot you’re flying to tatl in Business, not bad for £443 really (especially as it’s west coast). Bet you couldn’t get to San Diego for that much in economy if you were paying cash for a ticket.

I was experimenting with different classes to see if affected the charges, I took that screenshot on my last attempt, which was on supersaver First. It’s the same fee for economy (which I would be booking, since it’s only 40k). Problem is, I can fly economy for £600, so only £150 more and I get to keep my miles for upgrades. Which is exactly what they would prefer I did! 🙂